Opening the Feet

     I recently started doing Pilates.  Getting in better shape has been a personal goal lately, especially with the wedding coming up!   My general idea was I could tone up and get my posture straightened out, so I go in, talk to my personal pilates instructor, get all the medical history out of the way, and we're off.  Or so I thought.
     She shows me some of the machines along with the rest of the studio before she leads me over the a wooden rack on the wall with two half balls placed in front of it.  She tells me to place my heels on the balls and evenly distribute my weight between my heel and the ball of my foot.
     Ok.  Easy enough.
But once I get my heels up there, I realize how tight the entire sole of each foot was.  The instructor patiently walked me through shifting my weight back and forth, side to side, front to back, and we transitioned from heel to arch to ball to toes, all the while, I'm TRYING to keep my weight evenly distributed between my feet.
     After a bit, she tells me to try them out.  See what it feels like to move; grounded through your feet.  Even after having 10 sessions of Rolfing, I had never felt so connected to my feet.  It was amazing.  I could feel how the tightness in my feet had been affecting my calves up into my knees and hamstrings, even into my hips and low back!
     Now, opening my feet is one of the first things I do in the morning and the last thing I do at night - if I'm really good about it, I'll do it in between sessions and throughout the day.

You can use any of these things to open your feet:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Or you can improvise and find whatever works best for you.

 

Our feet are our connection to the Earth - they are where our support starts against gravity.

 

Be good to them, and be good to yourselves. <3